Intense
by Ruthless Bunny
Summary: What about that time Trent spent 6 months in the tent?


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A Disclaimer: These characters are the property of MTV, and the intellectual property of the creators of Daria. I appreciate their indulgence in letting me build a world around them. I am doing this for love, not money, so please do not get your panties in a twist about it. Thanks.

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Description: How Trent got back into the house after six months of living in a tent

By Ruthless Bunny AKA Ruth Lys Margolis

E-mail address: r.l.margolis@att.net

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Intense

Trent looked around, and tried to remember how he got into this situation. The temperatures had dropped considerably over the past few days, and he was really cold. At least it hadn't been raining. He reached around for his flashlight and began to read his book again, he was too cold and too miserable to sleep. For months now, the tent in the backyard was Trent's home. When did he come out here, and how could he rejoin his family?

He knew that there had been an argument, but he was unclear as to whether he started the trouble, or if he was just caught up the moment. As one of the younger Lane children, Trent was often overlooked. More than once he had accidentally been left behind at the supermarket. To say that his older siblings were self-involved would be understating the facts. Summer was away at college and was involved in a volatile relationship. She would often arrive home, driving over a thousand miles to moan about her boyfriend's latest infidelity. The situation was compounded by her recently announced pregnancy. While, their mother Amanda, was not the type to get angry or judgmental, it was clear that she wanted no part of dealing with Summer, or her child. Trent's other sister Penny was in Central America participating in a student exchange program. Her correspondence was so infrequent, that saner heads would have been concerned about kidnapping, but his family just figured that her enrichment experience was occupying her free time. His brother Wind, had moved to Saucalito in Marin County, he had recently married his long time girlfriend and no one in the family had heard from him in months. Trent was especially hurt, because when Wind lived at home, they used to hang together. The Grateful Dead had swept up Wind. He and his then girlfriend, now wife, were selling batik T-shirts and feather earrings at all the Dead shows. When they weren't driving around the country in their van, their home base was the houseboat. Trent thought about how much he wished there were another guy at home, someone who could relate to him and show him how to get out of this predicament. 

Their father, Vincent, as usual, was away somewhere photographing something. Vincent hadn't been home since before Trent had moved into the tent in the backyard, and in Trent's mind, he thought that maybe his Dad would have asked him to move back into the house. 

He could see the house from where he was in the backyard. It was mostly dark, except for a light that was on in Janey's room. He wondered what she was still doing up, he didn't see her silhouette, so he imagined that she too, was reading. Except that Jane would be warm, dry and comfortable in her bed. Trent wiped away a tear of self-pity and slithered deeper into his sleeping bag for warmth. 

Janey was the only thing keeping Trent from just taking off for good. It was obvious to him, that other than Janey, no one in his family cared enough one way or the other to insist that he get his ass back in the house, like a normal kid. Janey was too young to know that Trent didn't want to live in the back yard, so she tried to show him her concern by bringing him sandwiches. She decorated them with flowers or beads or did watercolors on the bread with food coloring. Janey was too young to understand that people didn't live in the backyard, certainly not 11 year-old boys. 

Trent wondered what his mother was thinking. Did she think he wanted to be out here? Wasn't she worried? His friend Jesse's mom had a fit when he was late to dinner. What did he do wrong, that his parents just didn't care about him? They didn't seem to care too much about Janey either. The two youngest Lane kids just came and went as they pleased. Twice Trent had been summoned to the nurse's office to have his hair combed (and inspected for parasites.) But each time, no one had been concerned enough to call the authorities. Deep in his heart Trent knew that his parents loved him, and they wouldn't let anything bad happen to him, but he didn't understand why no one came out to take him back into the house. 

Earlier in the summer it had been nice to have a place all to himself. Trent would lie awake at night and listen to the crickets and frogs. Even the buzz of the katydids was peaceful to him. But now, there were no sounds, except when the wind howled. There was a flash of lightening across the sky, it shocked Trent out of his thoughts, it was followed by a loud clap of thunder and a downpour of rain. Trent sat up in the tent. Surely his mom would have to come out here and drag him into the house. She wouldn't let him catch pneumonia in bad weather, would she? He waited as the storm got louder and stronger. The trees bent and swayed in the strong winds. Trent was quickly soaked and he huddled in tent, which was slowly collapsing. He was scared, but couldn't seem to make himself go into the house. He didn't want to wake anyone up. Suddenly a light came on in the kitchen and the back door opened. Trent heard a little voice calling him. It was Janey. It figured. He got up and ran to the back porch. 

"Trent, would you come in and sleep in the top bunk. I'm scared." She whined.

"Sure Janey, whatever you need. I'm here for you." Janey took his hand, leading him upstairs to her room. 

"But you have to dry off first, you're all cold and clammy." She said, handing him some towels.

Later, after he had dried off and changed into something dry, he lay in the top bunk, while his little sister slept, happily in the bunk below. Trent decided that he would be the one to take care of Janey, he would be the one who would look after her. He fell asleep, warm, dry and happy for the first time in six months.


End file.
